New Democrat Party Critic Andrew Swan is accusing Premier Brian Pallister of unplugging while in Costa Rica. Meanwhile, the minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage said in her five years working with Pallister, she’s never had trouble reaching him.

According to a government spokesperson, the premier was in Costa Rica for five weeks in 2016 and two weeks so far in 2017.

Documents obtained by the opposition NDP show that while Pallister was away, he was on the phone with a government employee about nine times. Swan points out the records show none of these calls happened last summer while OmniTRAX closed down the port in Churchill.

“There appears to be no efforts to deal with this. We know when he was down in Costa Rica in January, nine other provinces were negotiating a health care accord,” Swan said.

Rochelle Squires, the minister of Sport, Culture and Heritage, said Pallister is one of the hardest working people she knows.

“I’ve worked with Premier Pallister since 2012. I’ve never had a challenge reaching him when I’ve needed a decision or direction,” Squires said.

On Thursday, the Manitoba ombudsman released a seven-page report agreeing with an NDP complaint that a record of Pallister's personal phone and text messages should be released through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).

In January, the NDP opposition filed a FIPPA request to see a record of all local, national and international phone calls and text messages from the premier’s personal cell phone regarding Manitoba government business since May 3, 2016. The Executive Council Office initially refused, claiming FIPPA excludes the personal records of a minister.

The report released Thursday sided with the NDP, noting that “regardless of where or how created, all records relating to government business come within the scope of the act.”

Swan is calling on Pallister to say he was wrong and pledge to only use his phone and email for government business in the future. While the province said Pallister had previously used his wife’s cell phone and email for government business, a new policy directive was created on July 14.

The ombudsman notes the directive: “All ministers, members of the executive council, and all technical officers must use their government assigned email accounts, phones, text and messaging applications conducting government business.”

“We recognized there was a gap that needed to be closed and we took steps to close that gap as of July 14,” said Squires.